Book Review of Heart Bones by Colleen Hoover: A Summer Romance About Two People Hiding Very Different Secrets

At first glance, Heart Bones looks like the perfect summer romance.

A beach house.

A mysterious boy next door.

Two young people with only one summer together.

Ocean views.

But Colleen Hoover doesn’t exactly specialize in uncomplicated vacations.

Heart Bones follows Beyah Grim, a nineteen-year-old who has grown up in poverty and neglect and is counting down the days until a volleyball scholarship lets her escape. When her mother dies unexpectedly, Beyah is forced to spend the summer in Texas with the father she barely knows. There she meets Samson, the wealthy and mysterious boy next door.

Beyah and Samson couldn’t seem more different

Beyah has spent her life surviving.

She doesn’t trust easily because experience has taught her not to.

Samson appears to come from the exact opposite world.

Money.

Beach houses.

Security.

Everything Beyah never had.

At least, that’s what she assumes.

The more time they spend together, the more obvious it becomes that the version of Samson everyone sees isn’t necessarily the whole story.

Their connection grows despite both knowing summer has an expiration date.

Beyah is headed to Penn State.

Samson has his own future.

So they make the extremely reliable fictional-romance decision to keep things casual.

I’m sure you can imagine how well that goes.

More than a beach romance

The beach setting gives this book a summery feeling, but the emotional core is much heavier.

Beyah’s childhood shaped the way she understands love, money, safety, and independence.

She has survived by needing as little from other people as possible.

That makes falling for someone terrifying.

Because caring gives another person the ability to hurt you.

Poverty plays an important role

One of the more interesting elements is the contrast between what Beyah assumes about Samson and what wealth means to her.

Money isn’t abstract to Beyah.

It’s food.

Housing.

Opportunity.

Safety.

The ability to leave.

The book spends a lot of time looking at how very different lives can shape the choices people make. Kirkus highlighted the novel’s exploration of poverty and the way it complicates judgments about right and wrong.

Final thoughts

Heart Bones looks like a beach read and often feels like one—but there’s much more sadness underneath the surface.

It’s romantic.

It’s emotional.

It’s sometimes frustrating.

And it’s built around two people who initially believe they understand each other because of the lives they appear to have.

They don’t.

If you like summer romances with heavier themes, complicated family relationships, secrets, and plenty of emotional drama, this is one to add to your beach bag.

Just don’t assume the beach setting means Colleen Hoover is going to let everyone relax.